Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Making the most of what you have using Go Chic or Go Home...and a Giveaway!

I've heard from many of you that you hope to make the most of your closet, and I love that so many of you have already found tons of new outfits from things you have!

I want to introduce you to a tool that I believe is really, really helpful for going further in making the most of what you have, no matter where you're starting from. You should be no strangers to one of our sponsors Go Chic or Go Home. Many of you are members! But today I want to help you use GCOGH to make the most of your closet.

Cynthia, one of the founders of GCOGH, challenged me to pick out some of those lonely pieces in my closet--the ones that have not made it into an outfit in a while--and see if GCOGH could help me make them fresh again. Honestly, I was skeptical. "I think I've gotten decent at remixing," I thought. "What can GCOGH do for me that I can't do by staring at my closet?" And, "Is it really going to be worth the trouble of uploading pictures of my clothes?" MAN, was I wrong!

I've been stumped with these two tops for a long time:

I've worn them plenty before, and for whatever reasons I was just feeling tired of them. In fact, the red top was in my "almost sell/donate" pile--the purgatory of my closet--and after using GCOGH to remix it, I'm totally ragging on myself for almost getting rid of it! I used GCOGH to make four fresh outfits between these two tops! (Shown below.)

Using GCOGH to Remix

1. Upload a few pics of your clothes.
First, I took pics of items from my closet and uploaded them to my GCOGH account. It seemed overwhelming at first, but I just started with like 5-10 of my staples. Then I ended up loving it and have now uploaded over half of my clothes!

What's also really cool is that YOU can save pics from MY closet (or anyone else's) and put them in your own virtual closet. In GCOGH, just click the pic and then click the "Add" button. This is great when it's a similar item that you have but don't want to upload yourself or if it's an item you're thinking of buying and you want to try remixing it with other items in your closet. That's pretty cool!

You can also get pics from retailers within the GCOGH interface. For example, you can shop at Gap through GCOGH, and if you're thinking of buying an item, save it to your own board and try to create ensembles with that item to see if it works with your current clothes! Kinda like a test drive to see if it'll really work in your closet or not.

2. See each of your items laid out.
This is that part that I find really helpful--you get to see your whole closet laid out flat.

For those of you who have told me you've wished to see my closet, start using GCOGH and you'll be able to! You can see my board of clothes, and I can see yours. Super fun. (And that's how you can use items from my closet in your own ensembles/boards.)

Seeing all of my clothes laid out in the virtual closet gave me a new perspective. In my real closet, things get lost, stuck between other clothes, or forgotten in a drawer. Since GCOGH's virtual closet lays everything out, I could clearly see all of the pieces I have.

3. Use the "Create" function to put together ensembles.
Just drag and drop items from the board into the bottom section to create an ensemble. It's sooo easy.

Here the outfits I created with my lonely pieces:

Outfit #1 -I was delighted by how the white jeans freshened up this top for me. I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of that before seeing it in my virtual closet. I wore this last week and will do a full post on it soon. :)

Outfit #2 - I would never have thought to put a red top with a red blazer for fear of being too matchy-matchy. But when I saw it in the virtual closet I was like, "OOOH, I think that could work!" SO CUTE. I have not worn this yet, but I'm dang excited to.

Outfit #3 - I don't have much of an explanation for this other than just seeing it all come together in my virtual closet. Voila! I love it!

Outfit #4 - I once tried to recreate this pin from the lovely Linda with a navy a-line skirt and a darker polka dot top, but it didn't work out because the proportions were off with my a-line skirt. I gave up on it. But when I looked in my virtual closet trying to make an outfit with this polka dot top, I saw my denim pencil skirt next and realized I could still recreate a similar outfit to Linda's, just with totally different pieces than I had originally planned. Whoop whoop!

Larger sized pictures of some of these outfits will either be posted in the future here or can be found on my Go Chic or Go Home boards.

Other Tools

Explore Feature

You can use GCOGH's "Explore" feature to display an infinite number of outfits from other GCOGH members. So.much.inspiration. You can also filter the options by things like colors, themes, or occasions. Wanna see outfits that only utilize red? You've got it. Want to get ideas for how to wear animal print? Easy. Wanna find "casual" looks or "business" looks or "fall" looks? No problem. There's too many examples of all the possible ways to filter outfits, so just go to the "Explore" tab, click "All Outfits," and filter away!

Create Ensembles to Wear for Later

The main thing I love about GCOGH is that I can create ensembles with my own clothes and store them away as a running list of outfits I can wear. I pin a lot on Pinterest for inspiration, and then I go to GCOGH to recreate the outfits with my own clothes and save them for later. When I plan outfits for the week I just go through my GCOGH Ensembles list and choose from a list of outfits I've created that are waiting to be worn. Makes life SO EASY.

You can also use the GCOGH boards to save inspiration photos instead of using Pinterest. It's all incorporated there for you! You can include an inspiration photo from your GCOGH board to your ensemble to remember what you were going for, like the first ensemble in the pic below.

Lastly, when you click on an individual item, like my red shirt, you get to see all the ensembles you've created with that item. In the pic above, you see the two outfits I've created so far with the red shirt. So if I want to wear my red shirt, instead of sifting through ALL of my ensembles, I can just click on the item's picture and a list of all the ensembles I've created with it will be right there! You can also see ensembles other members created with your piece, if they pulled from your closet. More ideas from other people with your own clothes! Suuuuuch a cool and helpful feature for easy dressing.

I Challenge You - Win $50!

I'm challenging you to use GCOGH to find some friends for your lonely pieces! To sweeten the deal, Go Chic or Go Home is offering a prize to one lucky participant--Win $50 to any GCOGH retailer! (Madewell, Gap, Banana Republic, and more!)

Use the ensemble creator under "Create" to start mixing and matching! Create an ensemble with that lonely item.

Comment here with a link(s) to the ensemble and tell me how GCOGH helped you make it. You'll be entered into a raffle to win $50 and I'll check out your ensembles, and you can check out other people's!

Two winners will be chosen at random from the participants. Challenge will end October 31st. That's two weeks to upload pics and get a mixin' and a matchin'.

I'm soooo excited to see your ensembles. I've become slightly addicted to creating ensembles on GCOGH, and my (not so secret) hope is that you do too. Muahaha.

P.S. You can also leave normal comments here without participating in the challenge. :)

54 comments:

I actually signed up for GCOGH a few months ago. I was really into taking pics at first, then sort of slacked off, as I was able to mix things in my head instead of on the computer...so I guess the site is really good for that! Between that and your blog, I'm able to make smarter shopping choices. I even bought a couple items I never would have bought before, simply because I didn't think they'd be versatile, but I've found that they are!

I signed up for GCOGH a couple of weeks ago, thanks to your blog. I had completely stopped wearing my button-up shirts; I always felt that I had to wear a cami underneath, but I sweat a lot and always ending up feeling uncomfortable. I had just about decided that between that and having a large chest, I was gonna have to write off button-ups completely. But using this site, I decided to just try one of my button-ups, this time without the cami and with a sweater over top. I was so much more comfortable! And I felt very work appropriate without being overly dressed up (my office is pretty casual so when I feel like trying a nicer outfit, I usually get asked why I'm so dressed up). I'm so glad that GCOGH reintroduced button-up shirts to my life!

I just had to leave a comment to let you know that you totally inspired me to take a chance, and...I bought my very first pair of red pants! I even wrote up a WIWW post, too! =) Thanks so much! Love your blog! The GCOGH challenge sounds really fun!

I crafted an outfit around two "orphan" items in my closet - the graphic t (got years ago) and the pencil skirt (which I bought for a play, and haven't really worn since). I think the outfit would work pretty well, and if I weren't participating in the October dress project (wear one dress every day for the month of October) then I'd have probably tried to wear it today! http://gochicorgohome.com/explore/members/6096/ensemble/482978

I am getting really frustrated with uploading and editing my photos on GCOGH. The site is not saving the info I put in for each item and I am having to re-enter info. It makes me not want to use the site--sorry to say.

I'm excluding myself from the giveaway (*sniff*), but the GCOGH community has definitely helped me make the most of several closet orphans. I bought a winter white jacket when I was in college (not gonna admit how long ago that was) and haven't worn it in at least 3 years. It's a Goldilocks coat in terms of weight but I've always been stuck on remixing it. Lately I've been seeing a ton of great winter white inspiration in the GCOGH community which has given me some fresh ideas. I started remixing the jacket again and found myself saying, "Well that's obvious. How did i not see that!?" Now SoCal just needs to give us some winter weather! http://gochicorgohome.com/explore/members/16/photos/593

This incorporates a couple closet orphans – the green scarf and the white skirt. I've had that skirt for years and have only worn it a handful of times. Why? Because I didn't realize you could put belts with skirts. I'm learning a lot from your blog and I'm so excited to put more outfits together with GCOGH!

Okay so I know I just posted... but I just solved another closet orphan mystery! I have these pink flats I can never figure out how to incorporate (yet somehow they're dirty – how embarrassing!) and now, voila!

http://gochicorgohome.com/explore/members/6069/ensemble/485041

I swear I'll stop posting links now. :) But this GCOGH site is incredible.

Been wanting to join GCOGH for a while, and finally did it (thanks to your persuasive give-away!). I am really enjoying it, and you're right- it's addictive! I bought some cranberry-coloured tights recently, but they've just sat in my closet 'cause I didn't know what to do with them! Love the colour, but I'm a novice at mix-n'match... and lack confidence.Anyway- here's what I cooked up with that closet orphan:http://gochicorgohome.com/explore/members/6054/ensemble/482878

OK I'm doing this again because it's so fun. I bought this dress and have yet to wear it, but hopefully my new love for colored tights will bring out some fun remixes. Not sure if this cardigan will really work; this feels like one I need to try on...http://gochicorgohome.com/explore/members/5692/ensemble/485697

OK...so I got a little carried away and uploaded a ton of my clothes. Wow, do I have a lot of clothes. I put together an outfit that incorporated a couple of closet orphans - my light khaki pants and a light green long sleeved t-shirt. I am going to try this outfit today. :) http://gochicorgohome.com/explore/members/6231/ensemble/486764

My closet orphan was a slightly more recent purchase. i tried on a pencil skirt because it was on clearance, and my sister told me it looked so good on me, so of course i had to buy it. i eventually realised, I am not a pencil skirt, business dressing type person. So it languished in my closet for awhile. Go Chic helped me figure out that it does not have to be business attire. i dressed it down and it fit my style much better! http://gochicorgohome.com/explore/members/4407/photos/445176

I just joined GCOGH a little over a week ago, and it's already been a very useful tool (and fun too). I love being able to stretch my imagination and create new outfits I wouldn't have otherwise thought of. Anyway, I've had this olive green sleeveless blouse for ages. Back when I first bought it I wore it some, but it's just been sitting in my closet for quite a while now. Although I love the color and the style, it's a bit short on me, and I keep thinking it's not as flattering as it could be if it was longer. I keep removing it from my closet and putting it in the give away pile, only to put it back later because for some reason, I just can't seem to part with it. Now that I've joined GCOGH, I started thinking about how I can mix and match it with what's in my wardrobe to come up with new ways to wear it. Maybe tucking it into a skirt would work. And it just so happens that I made this chiffon maxi skirt a few weeks ago. So I gave it a try, and I really like the results.http://gochicorgohome.com/explore/members/5665/ensemble/488443

I got a little carried away when I started taking pictures of my clothes. I've uploaded a good portion of my closet! It's been fun to try to make outfits with the clothes I don't wear very often. Like the striped shirt in this outfit. http://gochicorgohome.com/explore/members/6259/ensemble/489582

I got my invite, joined and uploaded a few pictures...then got carried away and uploaded pretty much my whole closet. Already I'm coming up with different outfit combos and loving it. Here is one featuring a sweater that I just didn't wear, but now can't wait to wear! http://gochicorgohome.com/explore/members/6361/ensemble/491770

It's so nice to actually see all my clothes at once (not that I've managed to get all of them uploaded, but you know) - it's definitely given me some ideas I hadn't had before, like this: http://gochicorgohome.com/explore/members/6473/ensemble/492632

Ooh this is fun! I was thinking the other day I'd love a way to get my entire closet laid out in front of me for remixing purposes. I think so far this is my favourite closet orphan ensemble. http://gochicorgohome.com/explore/members/6031/ensemble/485546 I've had this vintage maxi skirt for months but just couldn't work it out, I used GCGH to look for tops that would work in other people's closet and then after getting a bit of inspiration realized I had the perfect top in my own! And to top it all off, I have now worn the ensemble, making it no longer a closet orphan.

I bought a while Dolman blazer a while ago for super cheap (we're talking $10, new at the store!). I knew that it would be a great addition to my wardrobe, but I could never figure out how to style it. After browsing around on GCOGH, I realized that simple can be better! Hope you like the way I styled it! http://gochicorgohome.com/explore/members/6067/ensemble/493689

Hey Audrey! Thank you so much for introducing me to GCOGH! I have a super small closet space and seeing all of my options for getting dressed is not easy. The result is that I always tending to grab for the same tried and true options. But not anymore! I've been finding all sorts of ways to remix my clothes. Take for example this coral maxi skirt. I always thought of it as just a spring/ summer piece but I paired it with brown boots, a chambray shirt and a chunky scarf and voila, instant fall outfit. Here's the link http://gochicorgohome.com/explore/members/6228/ensemble/489055 Thanks again! Love the blog!Adrianne [email protected]

I have a short blue floral dress that I got from Express during this past spring. I know that I can wear it by itself, but I find that boring. It's also a look only for the summer, and it's just not practical for the rest of the year. After seeing this dress next to my belts and boots, I decided that adding a pair of leggings with it would do the trick. I plan on doing this with different colored boots and leggings as to be able to wear this dress in more than one way. I love GCOGH because I can see how other people have created ensembles and use them to help myself create new outfits in my own closet. http://gochicorgohome.com/explore/members/4838/ensemble/495037

That was fun ! I mixed an anthro blouse that I haven't wore in months with my current fave pieces in my closethttp://gochicorgohome.com/explore/members/416/ensemble/495147http://gochicorgohome.com/explore/members/416/ensemble/495148

I am so happy that you introduced this website. I'm not very organized with my wardrobe but I love writing lists so this will help me a lot! I just found a pair of earrings which were totally forgotten but now I have loads of ideas what to wear with them and I only started uploading my stuff.

I don't really have any orphans in my closet, as I don't have enough in there for anything to get forgotten... :-)I did join GCOGH and am still working on photographing and uploading.Here is an ensemble I made:http://gochicorgohome.com/explore/members/5314/ensemble/496999

GCOGH is amazing! I created this outfit http://gochicorgohome.com/explore/members/6620/ensemble/498771 with two closet orphans. The sequined tank is new...I've been waiting for an occasion to wear it. By dressing it down with the colored denim and boots, I think I'll have more opportunity to take it out of the closet! The grey blazer is my second orphan. I bought it because I LOVED it and then I never really wore it b/c I didn't know what to wear with it. Now I have an outfit I can't wait to wear!

I've had so much fun remixing my wardrobe on GCOGH! feel like my fashion sense has truly grown and I'm becoming more stylish by the day. Here is an ensemble I created using 5 lonely garments I can never seem to work in: http://gochicorgohome.com/explore/members/5984/ensemble/500244. Everything except the gray skirt has been collecting dust in my closet. Even though they're all more or less basic garments, for some reason I never thought to put them together. Once it's cool enough outside I'll get to wear it!

Oh man, I might be addicted to CGoCH now, too! It's definitely helped me find a bunch of new ways to wear my mustard skinny jeans. This is one of my favorite combos I came up with: http://gochicorgohome.com/explore/members/5586/ensemble/501374

It's a lot easier to see what you have in your closet this way, without having to slide a bunch of hangers and dig in drawers.

http://gochicorgohome.com/explore/members/6827/ensemble/502204GCOGH has definitely opened my eyes up to my new favorite online retailer, ASOS! Their coupons and promotions on GCOGH have led me to check out the website and see what other GCOGH users are doing on a limited budget like my own student budget. My style is refined and classic, and these clothing items are great for looking elegant without breaking the bank. :) Thank you so much for the giveaway!

I bought a really cute black pencil skirt on sale a while back, but I haven't even worn it yet because I wasn't sure what to wear it with. I didn't want to dress too formally, but I hard a hard time seeing what would make it more casual.

Fortunately for me, a good portion of my clothes were still on sale from the store I bought them from, which meant I could just swipe their lovely pictures rather than taking my own :D. So, looking at my new stuff, I was able to see some really cute, and casual combinations I can do with the skirt. I like the ensemble I made because the graphic cardi is very casual and cute, and the cardigan adds a pop of colour and ties it all together.

I look forward to uploading the rest of my wardrobe and finding solutions for my other closet orphans.

Thanks for making me OBSESSED with Go Chic or Go Home! I started going through the website looking at what other people have made for inspiration and then decided to give it a try! I was a little hesitant at first because I was unsure if all the hard work of loading all the pictures would be beneficial in the end but now I see why it can be addicting! I decided to use a silk blouse I had that is multicolored and was unsure how to mix it with other pieces from my closet...you were right, after seeing everything laid out it helped my eyes see other great ensembles! I created two different looks with this top, a casual look for the day and then an outfit for a night look to go to dinner or even wear to the office! Thanks again for introducing me to this great site, cant wait to create more looks!

It seems so simple, but it’s hard to go through my closet and figure things out with everything I have jammed in there. GCOGH helped me see what I had and figure out what I could do with it. Thanks for giving us the heads-up about this service!

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